Doctoral Degree Program
General Information | Admission to Candidacy Examination | DissertationGeneral Information
Course Requirements:
The student is required to take a total of 35 credits of graduate level courses excluding 800, 999 and non-participant seminars (inclusive of courses taken for the M. Sc. degree). Of those 35 credits, at least 20 must be in PCMB and must be completed with a grade of B-
or higher. All students must take the core courses, which are listed
below and also in Appendix B. Under exceptional circumstances, a
student may petition waiver of a particular course through the GSC.
The petition must include sound justification. Usually, a waiver
may be considered if a student can document that he/her has taken
and satisfactorily passed a similar course elsewhere. The GSC may
or may not grant the waiver based on its own judgment. A student
who wishes to use the waiver option must do so at the earliest possible
time to avoid delay in the studies. Nonacademic reasons cannot be
used as justification for the waiver.
All graduate students must register for a minimum of nine (9) quarters of PCMB 999 (six additional quarters following completion of the M.Sc. degree) before the Ph.D. degree will be granted.
The Core Curriculum:
| Course | Information |
Plant Molecular Biology |
PCMB622 (4 cr) |
Plant Genetics & Genomics |
PCMB623 (4 cr) |
| Plant Biochemistry |
PCMB735 (3 cr) or PCMB 736 (3 cr) |
| Plant Physiology |
PCMB630 (3 cr) or PCMB631 (3 cr) |
| Plant Anatomy/Cell Biology |
PCMB643 (5 cr) or PCMB648 (4 cr) |
All students are strongly encouraged to consult with their initial/research advisors and the Advisory Committees for taking all of the elective courses, to ensure that any courses taken will be counted towards their Ph.D. degree programs. As with most requirements, aspects of the course requirements can be waived or altered for exceptional cases upon petition to the GSC. This course requirement must be completed before taking the Admission to Candidacy Examination.
During the autumn, winter and spring quarters each year when they are enrolled, all students are required to attend the PCMB departmental seminar s (PB 800). Each student should enroll for 1 hour of credit for PB 800 under the direction of the GSC Chair. Attendance will be taken. Attendance at less than 70% of the seminars in a quarter will result in an unsatisfactory grade (“U”). If a student anticipates missing the seminars due to time conflict with other academic activities such as performing GTA duties, the student must obtain approval from the GSC prior to the beginning of each quarter. Once the quarter begins, the GSC will not honor any excuses from a student for missing seminars, except for under extraordinary situations such as medical emergencies.
Lab Rotation Requirements:
All incoming students are required to rotate through three labs before formally choosing an advisor. Each student should arrange his/her rotation for each of these quarters in advance of the start of the quarter by consulting prospective faculty members. Each rotation will be by mutual agreement between the involved student and faculty member. The student will enroll for an appropriate number of credit hours of Plant Biology 999 under the direction of the advising faculty member for the quarter of rotation. Approval of the Graduate Studies Committee will be required for any student who wishes to pursue more than four rotations.
Initial Advisor:
The student’s initial advisor upon arrival at the university will be the first rotation advisor, until such time as the student has reached an agreement to join a research group. If this rotation advisor is already responsible for the initial advising of two other students, the Graduate Student Committee will select an alternative initial advisor. The initial advisor will be responsible for assisting the student in identifying appropriate courses.
Research Advisor:
In general, no later than the end of the student's third or last rotation, a mutual agreement to join a laboratory should be made between the student and a prospective research advisor, who will send a memo to the GSC confirming this choice. This memo should be signed both by the advisor and the advisee. Failure to identify a research advisor within one quarter after the last rotation will result in a recommendation from the GSC that financial support from the Department be terminated. In addition, students who are without a research advisor for more than one quarter following completion of the required rotations will be denied permission for further enrollment in the Department.
If a student has two co-advisors, an arrangement must be made such that one co-advisor will assume primary advising responsibilities. If a student wishes to change his/her research advisor(s) during the course of studies, the new advisor should send a memo to the GSC confirming this choice. This memo should be signed both by the new advisor and the advisee. Although it is not necessary for the previous advisor to sign this memo, an agreement to change advisor should be made mutually, if possible, by the student and the previous research advisor.
Advisory Committee:
In
addition to choosing a research advisor, a student must also establish
an Advisory Committee and a Dissertation Committee (see Section V. G. ii.of
the PCMB Graduate
Program Handbook [pdf]).
The membership of both committees, which may be identical or different,
is selected by the student in consultation with the advisor. The
student thereafter submits recommendations for membership to the
GSC for approval. The Advisory Committee consists of four faculty
members including the student's advisor; at least three members of
the Advisory Committee, including the student's advisor, must be
members of the PCMB Graduate Faculty. The membership of the Advisory
Committee may be changed if necessary, subject to the approval of
the GSC.
The Advisory Committee should be formed during the student's second academic year, after the selection of a research advisor. The committee aids the student in planning both the student's academic and research programs. It is recommended that the student meet with this committee at least annually, although more frequent meetings may be requested by the advisor, committee, or student. The Advisory Committee also conducts the Admission to Candidacy Exam (ACE).
Teaching Requirement:
All Ph.D. students are required to teach at least one quarter as a graduate teaching assistant during their graduate career in the Department.
Transfer Credits:
Students may transfer up to 45 hours from a M.S. program for credit towards the Ph.D. thus reducing the total number of hours necessary to complete the degree from 135 to 90. Consult the Graduate School Handbook for further details.
Admissions to Candidacy Examination (ACE)
Timing:
A student should take the ACE by no later than the end of their third year in the program. By this time the student should have (1) completed the course requirements with a GPA of at least 3.0, and (2) defined and started dissertation research. Exceptions will be considered by the GSC in individual cases, within the guidelines of the Graduate School Handbook.
A student planning on taking the ACE should meet with the Advisory Committee at least several months before the exam to work out the final aspects of fulfilling the course requirements and to update the committee on the progress in research. Written documentation of readiness to take the ACE should be submitted to the GSC by the student’s advisor. This documentation should include:
(a) an updated CV of the student,
(b) a list of Graduate courses taken and grades, and
(c) a brief description of the student's current and intended research.
If possible, all documents should be submitted as PDF’s to facilitate timely distribution among the GSC members for evaluation. GSC approval is required for the ACE to proceed.
Written Portion of Admission to Candidacy Exam:
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The objective of the ACE is to test the student's ability 1) to identify an important area of research, b) to formulate meaningful and testable hypotheses, c) to select strategic and feasible methodology, d) to explain the context (literature and relevant data) of the questions, and e) to write a coherent and convincing grant proposal.
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The student proposes to its Advisory Committee one to three possible topics in an area different from the student’s doctoral research to form the subject for the grant proposal.
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The Advisory Committee will evaluate and approve the topic of the proposal. This can be done easily by e-mail communication, or by a meeting between and student and the Advisory Committee if so desired.
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The grant proposal should represent the student’s own creativity and intellectual work. A proposal previously written by the student and evaluated by peer review cannot be used for the ACE. An example is a proposal submitted to fulfill course requirements. Nor is a proposal acceptable if it overlaps extensively with existing grant proposals, for example those from the student’s advisor.
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After the Advisory Committee has approved the topic of the proposal, the student submits a one-page summary of the proposal to the Advisory Committee. The topic must be approved unanimously by the student’s Advisory Committee. A committee member indicates approval by signing the summary or by e-mail communications. If the topic is rejected, the above steps are repeated.
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Upon approval, the student has 4 weeks to complete the grant proposal. During the process, the student may consult fellow graduate students and postdoctoral researchers on ideas and on the proposal itself. Faculty input should be minimal. Any major participation of the research advisor in the proposal preparation must be documented. However, both the student and the advisor should be fully aware that any significant inputs from the advisor on the proposal may jeopardize the quality of the ACE. The student should be prepared to fully defend and justify the proposal orally.
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The format should follow that required by the agency to which the proposal will be “submitted”. In any case, it should be no longer than 10 pages, single-spaced with one inch margins and a 12 point font. Included in the 10 pages are figures and tables, but not references. (See the information sheet in Appendix C to this Guide).
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The student submits copies of the completed proposal and evaluation form ("Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology ACE Research Proposal Evaluation Form" - see Appendix C) to the Advisory Committee. Each committee member provides a written evaluation and a numerical rating. The advisor collects the completed Evaluation Forms and comments and distributes copies to the candidate and to all members of the Candidacy Exam Committee including the Graduate School Faculty Representative.
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If the proposal is judged acceptable as is or with minor revision, an Oral Examination is scheduled and conducted in no sooner than two weeks. If one or more member(s) of the Committee indicates that the proposal requires major revisions, the student shall submit a revised proposal to the Committee within two weeks.
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If the revision is acceptable, an Oral Exam is scheduled. If the revised proposal is still judged as seriously flawed, the Committee can either recommend that:
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The student be given the option of canceling the exam with an overall grade of Unsatisfactory. If this option is chosen, the Chair of the Candidacy Exam Committee returns the exam results form to the Graduate School along with a letter signed by the student to waive his/her right to take the Oral part of the ACE (See relevant section in the Graduate School Handbook).
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The Oral Exam be scheduled and the student be evaluated on the basis of both the written and oral portions of the ACE.
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Oral Portion of Admission to Candidacy Exam:
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The Committee that conducts the Oral Portion of the ACE consists of at least five faculty members including the Advisory Committee and the Graduate School Faculty Representative.
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The Oral portion of the ACE will be held no sooner than two weeks
after the Advisory Committee approves the written part of the proposal.
It is strongly encouraged that this portion of the ACE be conducted
immediately after the two-week grace period. This portion should
last for 2 hours. No presentation of the proposal should be required.
During this two-hour period, the Committee should focus on questioning
the student about the content of the proposal and about any subjects
directly or indirectly related to it. These could include techniques,
current literature, and basic and broad biological background. The
Exam could also test student’s awareness of current and new progresses
in plant biology/general biology and biology-related social issues. -
The Oral and the Written Portions are considered one exam. It is possible that either the Written or Oral portion is judged Unsatisfactory, but is counterbalanced by a sufficiently good performance on the other portion to obtain an overall Satisfactory grade. Committee approval must be unanimous.
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If the student fails the exam, the Committee must decide (a) whether the student is or is not permitted to take a second ACE, and (b) whether all or part of the exam should be repeated (see relevant sections in the Graduate School Handbook).
- At the end of the ACE, the result will be given to the student and be recorded on the Graduate School form. A copy of this form must be delivered to the GSC Chair and the original returned to the Graduate School.
Dissertation
The
Ph.D. degree is a prestigious research degree. A person must have demonstrated
the ability to perform original and independent research of high quality
and to write up reports/publications of research results to earn the
degree. The Ph.D. dissertation provides this opportunity.
A student should strive to begin the dissertation research as soon as possible. It should be understood that every dissertation research must investigate new and important biological problems. Such research must lead to original contributions in the field of research. This is best judged by the publication of results as research articles in reputable refereed journals in the student's field of research. It is expected that at least a part of the student’s research will have been published or accepted for publication by the time the dissertation is submitted for approval. If a student’s work is not yet published at that time, the committee will expect proof that the student has produced publishable research results. This can best be demonstrated by the student’s submitting a manuscript (or manuscripts) ready for submission to the committee alongside the dissertation. A student must fully understand that any research results that are not of publication quality cannot be accepted as a dissertation. To avoid such a situation, it is important that a student reads and keeps up with the literature, takes initiatives to discuss research frequently with the advisor and the advisory committee members, and takes initiatives to write up research results for timely publications.
Dissertation Committee:
The Dissertation Committee will follow the student’s progress in research, be available for advice, and – if necessary – help in resolving conflicts between the student and his/her advisor. It should be formed once the student has identified a research area, typically during the second year in the program (i.e., within the first year of having selected a research advisor). It consists of at least three (or four if a student has two co-advisors) members of the Graduate Faculty - at least two of whom must be from PCMB. The Dissertation Committee can be, but does not have to be, identical with the Advisory Committee. The Dissertation Committee will be joined by a member of the Graduate School Faculty Representative for the Final Oral Examination.
Dissertation:
The student shall submit a draft copy of the dissertation to the Dissertation Committee at least one week before the due date for the Draft Approval Form. The Graduate School Representative is not normally involved in reading and approving the draft of the Dissertation but this representative must be given an opportunity to read this document at least one week before the Final Oral Examination. A copy of the signed Draft Approval Form must be given to the GSC Chair and be deposited in the student's permanent file.
The dissertation draft must be unanimously approved by the Dissertation Committee before the student will be allowed to take the Final Oral Examination. In the event of a dissenting vote on the thesis approval, the student must first work with the dissenting Committee member to correct any perceived deficiencies in the thesis. If the matter cannot be resolved in this manner, the student’s Advisory Committee should work out a solution. If the matter still cannot be resolved by this second step, it will be referred to the GSC for a final solution.
The student shall provide the advisor with a completed, revised copy of the Dissertation at least one week before the Final Oral Exam for the Ph.D.
Final Oral Examination:
The Final Oral Examination is held after approval of the dissertation draft. This examination will be approximately two hours in length. The student will present his or her work in an exit seminar of approximately 60 minutes. This exit seminar is public and it is the graduate student’s responsibility to announce the seminar appropriately and well in advance to the members of the Department and other possibly interested parties. The examination following the seminar is not public and will only be attended by the student and the members of the Dissertation Committee (including the Graduate School Faculty Representative). The examination will test the student's knowledge of his/her research area and dissertation work. In addition, the candidate's ability to place his/her work into the broader context of plant science will be evaluated. Please see the Graduate School Handbook for additional details. The student is considered to have completed the Final Oral Examination successfully when there is no more than one unsatisfactory vote from the Final Oral Examination Committee. A final appeal procedure exists for students who fail the Final Oral Examination. See theGraduate School Handbook for details.
Bound Dissertation Copy:
In addition to submitting the electronic version of the dissertation
as required by the Graduate School, each student shall present to the
Department a clean, final hard copy of the same document which will be
bound at departmental expenses and deposited in the departmental archives.